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Where to begin? Heathcliff, Marmaduke, Garfield, Ziggy, Family Circus, B.C., Beetle Bailey, and Peanuts... those were my first influences in cartooning. When the Scholastic Book Fair came to school I would load up on cartoon books. Every year compiling more and more books that I would read over and over. As I got older, I started to gravitate to different comics. Bloom County, Calvin and Hobbes, and The Far Side became my new favorites. Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed had an edge to it, and I enjoyed his characters Opus and Bill the Cat. Calvin and Hobbs by Bill Watterson will always warm my heart. The art work is unparalleled and the characters were so well defined, it was less like reading a cartoon, and more like hanging out with friends. I have made a few “shout outs” to Calvin and Hobbes in my cartoons over the years. But the cartoon that resonated with me the most is The Far Side by Gary Larson. Where as Calvin and Hobbes was clever and poignant, The Far Side was just plain hilarious. If Calvin and Hobbes had been a dinner party, it would be warm, refined, clever and filled with heart and humor. The Far Side’s dinner party would just be a food fight. You would never know what you were going to be hit with next. That’s what I love about The Far Side, every panel was different... and odd... and off base... and pushed the boundaries. Comparing The Far Side next to cartoons like Garfield and Peanuts in the morning paper, there was definitely huge differences in comedy styles. The Far Side went for the quick laugh. With only one panel and a gag line there is no build up to the laugh... Calvin and Hobbs and other multi-panel cartoons build up a lead with three panels and then end with a punchline panel. If it was a boxing match, multi-panel cartoons go twelve rounds and single panels cartoons throw the haymaker right after the bell rings. One panel to hit the mark... or miss the mark. But either way it is quick... no dancing around.
Multi panel:
Single panel:
Both cartoon styles tell a story. Multi-panel cartoonists direct the reader to follow a story that then sets you up their punchline. Generally, the punchline subverts your expectation of where the story is going...our brain is not ready for that quick change... and waaa-laaaa... you get laughter.
So you are walking down the street and your friend suddenly trips, then falls into a bush, getting stuck in the branches, and is pleading for help... your brain is not prepared for that sequence of events to happen... and that triggers laughter. Understanding that your mind’s response to those quick deviations is what causes laughter, makes your laughing at a friend (who is in distress) more understandable. Laughter is how your brain copes with sudden change.
But who are we kidding... if you laugh at your friend after they fall down... you are a jerk, and an emotionally stunted human being like yourself shouldn’t have any friends at all... and should be shunned by society...
That’s my example of leading a reader to a place they thought they were going, and then I did that quick deviation from the path. Let the reader think laughing at their friends is somehow acceptable, and even out of their control, thus justifying that horrible behavior... then quickly putting a spotlight on their horrible behavior.
Now, after saying all this, I have no basis that this is scientifically accurate, but it feels right.
Single panel cartoons do a quick “set up” then deliver the punchline. The reader gets a visual cue, then the caption tends to do a “quick turn”.
Single Panel:
Visual Cue: Empty room
Caption: And once again, participants in the memory loss seminar forgot to RSVP
...and done.
Single panel cartoons leave the overall story up to the reader’s imagination. The single panel is a “snapshot” of an instant from within a larger story. The reader, either consciously or unconsciously, fills in the beginning and end of the story.
For example:
The beginning of this story somehow involves some guy stealing the word “meow” from a cat. The cat can’t get the word back without help... so the cat heads down to the police department, probably fills out a police report, and brings a constable back to the guy that robbed this cat of his word “meow”....
Now the snapshot of the moment comes into play.
The police officer politely asks for the word “meow” back because it belongs to the cat.
After the snapshot we can imagine the cat being reunited with the “meow” walking away, then after a few steps turning back to look at the man... and giving him the stink eye.
Everyone can come up with what they imagine might happen before and after the snapshot, and that is how single panel cartoon tells a story.
I think this is why I gravitated to single panel cartoons. I enjoy the quick turnaround of the joke… and the nonsensical story or word play that go along with them. I have tried to create multi-panel cartoons that revolve around a character, but I was not successful. Try as I might, I could never combine the joke and the story into something cohesive and funny. I was a little better at creating wordplays… or looking at situations from a different angle… which plays perfectly in the single panel cartoons. Taking a similar situation...then adding a twist... fits nicely into a single panel with gag-line format. For example, if a man falls off a cliff, it’s a tragedy. But if lemmings falls off a cliff… it is expected. We understand lemmings tend to fall of cliffs. It is the same situation, both parties falling off cliffs, but we react differently to the event. Now, if one of one super excited lemming turns to other lemming as they’re about to fall off the cliff… and says, “My father jumped off a cliff… Just like his father before him… And his father before him… This is what I call a tradition!” There you have the twist on the situation the combines elements that everyone can relate to. We all know that person that does something stupid and harmful, because “that’s just how it’s done.” I can hear someone saying, “Yup... that lemming just like my neighbor Bob...” (Hmmmmm...I might use that cartoon idea...)
So I began to noodle around with creating a single panel cartoons. In high school, I created a few of them for the school’s newspaper, and in college a few more for the university's newspaper.
Creating my cartoon, Zanyee, really began with reading newspapers and book compilations. Finding the joy and laughter in these tiny stories made me immensely happy. As I grew older, I discovered more mature cartoons that helped shape my own sense of humor. Like the kid that is inspired to pick up a guitar after hearing a song on the radio, I picked up a pencil to follow and the path of cartooning. It is nice to look back and see where something begins... and this was where I began with cartooning.